Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

FOXCONN $300M a year giveaway vs $137M Walker deficit in 2011

1/16/2018

A newly released memo projects the public cost for a planned Foxconn manufacturing project near Racine could near $4.5 billion -- nearly 50 percent more than the $3 billion cost initially cited by the project's chief proponent at the state Capitol, Gov. Scott Walker.

The figures were compiled by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau in a memo requested -- and released Tuesday -- by Assembly Democratic Leader Gordon Hintz. The individual cost figures are not new but had not previously been compiled in a single document.

10/18/17 Now what's the swindle?

8/8/17

It would take 25 years for state taxpayers to see a return ... LFB

Hold him accountable ...

"I did some research looking at their (Foxconn) California plant. Their assemblers are making $9.20 an hour," Representative Chris Sinicki notes at the public hearing on the Foxconn incentives bill. "Is it possible, Mr. Secretary, then, if they already said that they'd be starting at $20 an hour, can we get that in writing in a bill?"

It would take 25 years for state taxpayers to see a return on the billions Gov. Scott Walker wants to invest in a project that would bring Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn to Wisconsin, new state estimates show.

Walker has proposed to give Foxconn nearly $3 billion in refundable tax credits as part of an incentive package state lawmakers are considering to convince the company to build its first U.S. plant in the southeastern part of the state -- a campus that is projected to employ 13,000 and create a supply chain that could employ more than 30,000 statewide.

A new analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows taxpayers would pay about $1 billion more than the state received in revenues during the first 15 years of the project, and that the state will start to recoup those payments starting in 2043 -- or a quarter of a century after the project starts.

That estimated break-even date assumes the workforce produced by Foxconn is 13,000 employees entirely composed of Wisconsin residents. The more out-of-state workers that commute to the plant, the farther away the break-even date will be, according to the analysis.

Let’s review. Even under Foxconn’s own analysis, depending on how many of the estimated 3,000 to 13,000 are actually created, Wisconsin taxpayers would subsidize each job to the tune of $230,000 to almost $1 million. And these jobs would pay about 31 percent of what it would take a family of four to live a normal middle-class lifestyle. (A family of four needs to earn $131,000 to maintain the equivalent of a 1970’s middle-class lifestyle.) It turns out that hourly workers would only make about $41,600 a year, not the $53,000 in initial reports. Apparently, that higher average amount includes all salaries, even high-paid managers. To add injury to insult, the deal would allow the company to move streams, fill wetlands and pollute water without so much as telling us what they might destroy through an environmental impact statement.

Wisconsin’s current deficit at $137M

Itemizing the shortfall in the current budget.
The deficit for the state of Wisconsin is $136.7 million for the current biennial budget, according to new figures from the State Budget Office. River Hills Republican Senator Alberta Darling co-chairs the Legislature’s budget committee. “We are looking at a real challenge and the governor has been very clear … we are not going to raise taxes, so this leaves making some really tough decisions based on some really difficult priorities.”

Governor Scott Walker released a breakdown of the numbers, which includes $58.7 million that’s owed to Minnesota for the terminated tax reciprocity agreement, a $153.2 million deficit in Medical Assistance Programs, and $21.7 million deficit in the Department of Corrections.

More than $137 million spent in recalls, nearly $81M in Walker race

Candidates, special interest groups and political committees spent more than $137 million on the historic wave of 15 recalls over the last two years, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said Wednesday.

Of that amount, nearly $81 million targeted the failed attempt to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. It more than doubled the record-setting $37.4 million spent for a statewide office in the 2010 governor's race. And Walker more than tripled his previous spending record, doling out about $36 million leading up to his June 5 recall victory. ...

For all 15 of the recalls in 2011 and 2012, Republican candidates, groups and committees outspent their Democratic opponents $84.5 million to $52.6 million, according to WDC.And outside special interest groups spent nearly $76 million in the 15 recalls, including $39.8 million by groups that supported the GOP and $36 million by those that backed Democrats.